Thursday, January 29, 2009

Madras Christian College was a paradise (please note the past tense). We learnt more stuff outside the classrooms than inside. One of the best things about MCC were the cultural extravaganzas that took place every fortnight. Starting with the Fresher's Auditions and culminating in Deep Woods, the festival season never really ended in MCC. It just hibernated. For a boy new to the city, new to sophistication it was mind blowing. And the most important thing in college life-girls. After having studied in a school that frowned upon any communication with the opposite sex (it didn't work with us though) MCC looked better than paradise. But I was to learn the hard way that things do not happen the way it happens in movies. God alone how many times I made a fool of myself trying to impress members of the opposite sex (I didn't know of this aspect of my various stunts till about three years later).

But I was uniquely blessed in one way. Most of the crowd I hung around with were from similar backgrounds as I. So I was not alone in pulling the stunts. I will give you an example. The first event on the cultural calendar was the Fresher's Auditions, an event where fresh talent is given an opportunity to showcase themselves. What would a 18 year old new face to the city know about western rock? I knew of only a singer called Michael Jackson who sang English songs whose words I could hardly make out. And here were people singing full throated rock numbers by Van Halen and Metallica. A few "peter" (colloquial slang for people who speakify only in englifees) boys were shaking their heads violently. I had heard of people letting their hair down, but this took the cake. Upon enquiry, a senior told us that the procedure was called head banging. The sight amused us. It looked like they were being electrocuted. Our merriment spilled over and we all joined in. But we didn't stop with simply banging our heads. We broke small branches of trees and pretended that spirits had descended on us. Then when we tired of spirit dancing, we took off our belts and pretended to whip ourselves to atone for the sins being committed on stage. Great was the surprise in the audience. First years! trying to reduce western electrical competition to a farce! how dare they? a few seniors tried to make us reason. It was then I understood the truth in the saying 'united we stand'. All the first year boys stood up and closed ranks.

During the dancing I noticed a group of boys belonging to the department of history and economics performing the silliest antics. The department of English shared language classes with history, maths and statistics, and general English classes with economics. So I knew those people by sight and I nodded at them in both recognition and appreciation. It was they now boldly faced the seniors. At the frontline was Minish and Tommy (history and economics respectively). One look at Tommy who was a boxer and the seniors decided that they had other important things to worry about. and the celebrations went on till the red dust engulfed us as we danced away in a frenzy.

The next day, my legs were stiff and sore, and my neck had a crick. I walked like a robot to college, only to see my fellow robots all sitting in the gutters moaning the aches and pains relics of the previous evening's orgy. That was the first time I was welcomed by them with a smile and was invited to sit with them. I learnt their names then and have not forgotten them now, though ten years have passed.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

This blog is wholly dedicated to me. This contains a very jumpy narrative of the story of my life (as far as I can remember it). I know that one's school life is not very interesting reading. So, I have taken the liberty of jumping straight to college.

July 1997. Madras Christian College. A college student at last. I wore my best formals (imagine that - white shirt stripes, cement coloured trousers) The story of my admission is in itself a mini adventure in its own right. I had applied for English Literature. However, the Dean of Arts gave me a seat in Political Science as English Litt was full. I sat down to fill in the necessary forms, when my dad got an inspiration. He remembered that our church pastor had a friend in MCC. He sought him out and wonder of wonders, he turned out to be the Dean, Student Affairs. Need you ask. He cancelled my Political Science seat immediately and checked the English Litt for students who had not paid the admission fee till that point of time. A girl had not paid the fee. He struck her name off and gave me the admit card. I literally ran to the bank to pay the fee before they could change their mind. My name never figured in the admission list. And yet there I was, a student, a gentleman of MCC at last.

My first day in college was a forgettable affair. The only class I attended was the general English class. I sat in the last row of a huge room, filled with students. Right next to me was a six foot giant with bulging biceps. He turned out to be from English lit. My classmate SutharsonBabu. I learnt from him that the departments of English and economics get together for general English. and that he was a sportsman (it explained his physique), a discus thrower to be exact (it explained his biceps too) He took me to the sports pavilion, a place where I had been advised not to venture. But I figured that no one would mess with me while a six feet plus solid steel bodyguard was around. So I went with him (I was to learn later on that he was one of the most soft spoken boys I would ever meet, never getting angry even when we climbed on his shoulders, truly, appearances sometimes belie true character)

The next day was better. I looked around for Babu, but he was nowhere to be found. I went up to the very first bench and sat down. A boy came up to me and introduced himself as Valentine. He was quite bubbly and very outgoing. He introduced me to Wesley, Jagan and Sterling. Just then Dr. Felix Moses entered the class and Literary Forms commenced. I usually am a good listener and do not take notes. However, just for the fun of it, I took down the notes he dictated. Little did I know that, that small decision would change my life. The class was about the epic and its governing rules. Prof (now Dr).K Ganesh was next. He handled English Literary History. He started with Beowulf and came up to Chaucer. During the break I got to know my classmates better.

And I understood that college was way different from what is portrayed in the media. You could not "cut" classes at will. You would face shortage of attendance and not complete your degree. Whew. A far cry from the make believe world of the movies. Then came the first C.A test (Continuous Assessment). I scored 86 in Dr. Felix's paper. He was supposed to be very strict in his valuation and a senior(name withheld) had boasted that no one would ever beat his record of 66 in Literary Forms. My notes had done the trick. Immediately every one's opinion about me underwent a sea change. I understood then that you could depend on no one but yourself when you seek to achieve something. I never forgot that lesson.

College life was a blur. Most details have simply vanished from the recesses of my mind. However, I do remember that one of our favourite lecturers apart from Prof Ganesh was, Dr. Ilango of the Tamil Department. He could handle his classes with aplomb. I was always at loggerheads with Tamil and actually dreaded having to study it again. However, Dr. Ilango, displayed immense maturity and spent more time relieving us of our fears than teaching the assortment of course books that were prescribed us for which I have to be eternally grateful. The fact that I got my degree has much to do with his timely help at various junctures for the two years we had Tamil.